Tattoos Shouldn’t Be Cause for Deportation: New at Reason

On May 15, Judge Ricardo Martinez of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle ruled in favor of Daniel Ramirez Medina, a Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) recipient who had been detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) due to a tattoo that ICE claimed showed Ramirez’s gang affiliations.

As a DACA recipient, Ramirez was in the country legally. But that didn’t stop ICE from detaining him—apparently his paperwork, which he repeatedly showed them, was unacceptable to them because he wasn’t “born in this country”—and putting him in a Tacoma, Washington, detention facility in February 2017 while he awaited deportation proceedings. Generally speaking, when the government wants to rescind DACA status, the individual affected is given an opportunity to appeal and contest the decision. ICE claimed that Ramirez presented an “egregious public safety concern” due to gang affiliations. The only issue: The evidence of Ramirez’s supposed “gang affiliation” looks like it was doctored, writes Liz Wolfe.